Apparatus for reclaiming crude oil



March 12, 1929.

o o 'o o Filed o O O o o o o o MEATHERS 1,705,370

APPARATUS FOR RECLAIMING CRUDE OIL Feb. 11; 1928 INVENTOR. %u/& 679'ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 12, 1929 7 UNITE s1 unitar meanness,

or "rnnsa, ,oKLanoiviA. I

f APPARATUS ron'nncnarnine caunn orig .Application filedFebruary-11,1928. Seria1No;253,680.'

This inventionrelates to an improved process of and apparatusforreclaimingcrude oil from basic sediment'oil such as is usually foundat the bottomof reservoirs :used-f or storing crude oil in the voilfields.

1' The. primary object of the present inven.

tion is to provide't'or therecovery ofa comparatively high percentage ofcrude oilirom basic sediment oil ina. simpleand expeditious manner.

Still another object is toprovide an eflicient process of theabove'kind-which may be readily carried "out withoutthe exercise ofspecial skill. Still another object is to providean apparatus of thekind specified above which sextremely simple in construction as well asthoroughly eflicient and reliable in operation.

.,The invention-consists-in the novel process andapparatushereinai'termore fully de- 1 scribed, shown in the accompanyingdrawing the breaker barrel forming ratus shown in Figure 1';

breaker barrel, showing the disseminating nozzle thereof, and the mannerof mounting the perforated. batlles of the same which are used forbreaking up the basic sedimentoil and 1 Figure 4 is a horizontal sectionon line 4-4 of Figure 3. Referring more in detail to the drawing, thereclaming apparatus embodies a heating tank 5- into which the basicsediment oil is suitably admitted, as by means of an inlet 6., suitablemeans such as a. steam heating co l 7 I provided in'the bottom of thetank 5, be1ng adapted to heat the basic sediment oil in the tank 5 forconverting it into a free flowing fluid state. The apparatus furtherincludes a separating or settling tank 7 in the lower portion of whichwater is ma ntained to a desired level, by any suitable means, as at 8,

*a pipe line 9 being provided for conducting the heated basic sedimentoil from the heat-- ing tank 5 to the tank 7 and a suitable pump 10being interposed; in line 9 for. f positively withdrawing the basicsediment. oil from the heating .tank 5'and forcing it un-.

der pressure into thetank 7,.

' As shown, a vertical column 11 is provided in the tank 7 with itsupper end connected to the pipe line 9. and its lowerien'dterminatingsubstantiallyat the levelof. the water in the 1 v tank 7 as at 8,-a.breakerbarrel 12 being con v nected to the lower endoi'f the columnlland submerged. in the-water or equivalent fluid at 8. In order toassist in the reclaiming open. ation and avoid cong'ealing o'tthe. basicsedie. inent oil, the water 8 is'heated to a proper temperature by anysuitable means diagrams,

ma'tical-ly illustrated as a burner at 13.

' 'As shown clearly in Figures .Zto 4' inclusive, the breaker barrel'12,iscomposed of a plurality of tubular nipples 14 joined in. end

to end relation by means of COllPllllgSlBQVeQ 15, a perforated orforaniiiious baffle plate 16' being interposed and clamped at its marginbetween the adjacent ends of each pair of adjacent nipples 14 as well asbetweenjthe lowermost nipple 14: and the upper end of an oil outlet anddisseminating nozzle. 17 connected to the lowermost nipple 14 as shownin Figures 2 and .A sim ale and" durable form of breaker barrel is thusprovided which is divided into a seriesof communicatingbreaker'chambers, each constituted by the" interior of 'a nipple 14. Asshown,'the out-f V I let nozzle 17 is closed at its lower end andprovided with numeroussmalloutlet openings 18 in and entirely about thebody or cylindrical wall thereof.

In carrying out the present process, the basic sediment oil isintroduced into the tank 5 and suitablyheated, whereupon the pump 10 isplaced into operation for forcibly ump. ing the heated sedimentoil fromtlietank 5 junction with the pressure produced 'by'the forcibly shotthrough'the successive. chainbers of the breaker barrel. 10 and out ofthe outlet nozzle 17 into the Water at 8. The basic sediment oil, inpassing through the perforated batlle plates 16 is thoroughly broken up,and'as it passes in all directions, laterally from the outlet nozzle 17into the heated water at 8, the same is thoroughly disand discharging itinto the upper end of the column 11. As the column 11 is comparative lylong, the weight of the oil therein in .con-

pump 10 causes the basic sediment oil tobe 4 seininated in this heatedwater, thus completely breaking up the globules of paraffin is v v r 7"1,705,370

which holds Waterin suspension in the basic sediment oil, therebyfreeing" the crude oil and permitting it to immedately rise to thesurface of the Water virtue of its li hter gravity and being thusreleased from the paraflin, Water and other sediment or dirt formingconstituent parts of the basic sediment oil. The heavier matter willsettle to the'bottom of the tank 7 where it may be drawn offin anysuitable manner as provided for at 19-, the reclaimed lighter crude, oilfloating on the water being suitably drawn or pumped off throughanoutlet provided as generallyindicated at 20 i above the level of thewater. f V v It has been found by actual reduction to practice that withthe process and apparatus described above a very high. percentage of'vention is claimed.

crude oil can be recovered fromvery old baslc's ediment oil at aco1nparat1vely low cost and in a most expeditious manner. Fur- Vthermore, it isobvious that the simplicity of construction lends itselfreadily to the pro-' vision of portableapparatus adaptedto, be takenfroni one field to another With but verylittle expense. 7 i

Minor changesemay be'made without departing from the spirit. and scopeof the in YVhatI claim as new is V ll'In an apparatusforrec-lalmlngcrude Oll frombaslc sediment 011, a heatmg tank to receive the basicsediment oil, a separator tank to receive 'and'be' partially filled withwater, means for heating the Water; a rela'-, tively long pressurecolumn in the upper part of the sep'aratorttank, means to transfer theheated basic sediment oil from the heating tank and force it underpressure into-the upper end of said column, a breaker barrelon thelowerend of the column having an outlet nozzle at its lower endarranged-to be submerged 111' and to dlssenunate the broken basicsedlment on through the Water,

said breaker barrel embodying a pluralityof n p ales oined 1n; end toend relation and a per orate'd baflileclamped at its margin between theadjacent ends of each pair of adjacent nipples.

2; In" reclaiming crudeoil, a breakerbar-I rel comprising a plurality ofnipples joined I the lowermost nipple.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

,HABRY v. MEA nnRs.

